Congratulations!
If you were never young and stupid
When Cousin Johan and your Humble Bloggeur were pre-schoolers, we thought it advisable to slather cousin’s basement (and ourselves, as it transpired) in green paint. Aunt Laura was not amused, to put it kindly.
Seemed like a good idea at the time. Which is to say young people make stupid mistakes. Especially high school boys in Baraboo WI appearing to fly the Nazi salute. Heaven help most of them if they’re ever nominated to the supreme court!
The photograph is a political Rohrsach test. Some viewers profess to see only high schoolers waving to the viewer. Indeed, some elbows ARE bent. But others appear to be doing the evil salute: arm straight out at 135 degrees, palms down and fingers tight. Or were they caught in mid-motion? (Which is why this blog ran what we believe to be an actual, unretouched photo of Hillary Clinton detailing in a similarly ambiguous wave.)
Even Baraboo students with hands down on their sides are laughing. It seemed funny at the time. Maybe you had to be there? Or just young and foolish?
The small city of Baraboo is roiled with guilt and recrimination these days. Where did we go wrong as parents, as educators, as a community? How did we raise future Waffen SS Oberstgruppenführers?
Police are investigating counter threats. The community is meeting in auditoriums where the loudest voices and the most-shrill accusations will dominate.
To easily triggered grievance mongerers, Baraboo’s Nazi salute is photographic proof of Trump-inspired, white power revanchism in fly-over country.
On slim evidence. For one thing, Sauk County went Democrat in the November 6 election.
Those who excuse Antifa’s broken windows and tolerate Freedom Inc.’s shout-down of elected Madison liberals would have a stronger case if Baraboo has been plastered in swastikas. The nights disturbed by the sound of broken windows. Illuminated by crosses burning and bull whips cracking. But no. Nothing to corroborate the presumed sudden outbreak of hate. No separate but unequal drinking fountains in Baraboo. No stars and bars. No one assaulted or battered.
They just didn’t teach enough history in the classroom. But those who crave outrage have found their fix for the week, at least. For a counterpoint, we except from Baraboo resident Dan Gunderson‘s affirmation:
“I stand with our Baraboo boys”
It was a tough week in Baraboo … Our boys were captured in a horrific picture that spread to national news outlets and seemed to reveal the underbelly of racist sentiments running rampant in small town America. Maybe that’s true in some small towns. Maybe, and very likely, Baraboo has a ways to go in being more sensitive to diversity.
But it’s also true that the image of widespread racism in rural Wisconsin fits well with a narrative many would like to believe about towns like Baraboo. Fortunately, most of us do not believe this story even remotely represents Baraboo High School students, their parents, our school system or the broader Baraboo community.
… We know our boys. We know them.They are not racists and we need to stand behind them right now. They are being attacked and intimidated. They will remember whether their community stood beside them as they faced ruthless attacks on social media, merciless characterizations on news publications, and terrifying treats through personal contacts. …
So, how did it happen? How did that disgusting picture come about? Many, many boys, along with their prom dates and many dozens of parents present, have all shared a very similar story. They were posing for prom pictures. Among other poses, they were asked to make a “hi sign.” I don’t know what a “hi sign” is or if it’s a “high” sign.
The boys say they didn’t know either, but as the goofy one-handed, straight-arm wave was demonstrated the boys complied. And yes, in that moment, it became clear to some, if not many of the boys, that they had ended up in a group pose that was bizarrely similar to something truly outrageous and, indeed, very inappropriate. And as teenage boys in such situations can do, they responded in a variety of ways. Some put their hands down. Others made silly faces or laughed nervously. Still others, yes, went for the pose with overkill. It was a spontaneous moment that was arrived at in innocence, participated in with stupidity, and finished in a blink of the eye—and with the snap of a camera.
Why do I believe them? First of all, I know the boys. I don’t know all the boys, but I know many of them, and I know some very well. And the ones I know very well would never identify with Nazi sentiments, racial discrimination, or hate. They would not have been coaxed by a call to Hail Hitler. This was not a mob frenzy similar to what happened in the Holocaust. Come on!
The whole situation has been pretty outrageous. The national media spotlight has been out of control. Death threats, boycotts from colleges, and sweeping characterizations of our community have run wild.
But nothing seems so outrageous, and indeed dangerous, as the many, many who seem disinterested in the context of the photo or intent of the students. Those who want to condemn these boys are stuck on vague statements like, “They knew what they were doing,” or “There’s a culture of hate at the high school.”
I have yet to have anybody offer an actual theory for just how the boys were instructed, or spontaneously decided, in mass numbers to honor Hitler, make a Nazi salute, or show their contempt for the Jewish people. …
Sorry, it didn’t happen. Nobody claims it happened. No witnesses say it happened. But apparently for many, it simply doesn’t matter. The boys were captured in the pose, the picture has its own meaning, and the mob is calling for justice. …
Another take from Ms. Kim Hirsch, “Virtue Signalers Swoop Down on Baraboo WI.”
There’s a picture floating around the internet of Baraboo High School boys performing a Nazi Sieg Heil salute. And you know that if it’s on the internet, it’s got to be true.
67 responses to “Did Baraboo WI suddenly turn Nazi?”
Political Correctness gone off the rails!!! Again!!! The camera just froze them in mid wave. Period.
Disgusting….. Not the photo, but the mindset of those who would spread this crap.
The left sees Russians and Nazis everywhere they look. The real Russians and Nazis are their own party. Too bad they can’t live in reality with the rest of us.
They are proud boyz, just like the Madison juvenile gangbangers.
Bill Everley wrote, “They are proud boyz, just like the Madison juvenile gangbangers.”
Well now, there’s no BS innuendo embedded in that sentence is there.
What the heck is wrong with you people?
Bill Everley venting because he is still sore that Proud Boys declared him 4-F when trying to join. Sad…
@Batman;
Heh! Gut Laugh Leader Board entry; congrats!
He’s not robust enough for the gutless Antifa throngs, either.
#Sad!!!!!!
The Gotch
Another typical and all to common example campus fascism:
https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/11/13/why-this-california-college-student-is-choosing-to-stand-up-for-her-beliefs-on-gender/?utm_source=TDS_Email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Top5&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWW1WbU56Z3hZV0poTVRKaCIsInQiOiJPenc4ZnhhNDFkejBiUW1maXFHUVd5VVdEM1RhaGVwT2h0clF2bUpKR2d0Y0RIejRRMktPbXYrXC9SYzVKXC9qaXlNNnFObFdvTlpQQW9RK2tpWWNvQWI2WUk3bEJVd0NNcW5sZ29FdHMzcVRqSU1QMjRcL0xLT2s1SDBsXC9qazFtMkMifQ%3D%3D
The party of the KKK, anti-Semitism, and general (often violent) intolerance for anything they disagree with.
Democrats got some splaining to do.
https://www.dailywire.com/tags/anti-semitism
Those are all conservative tendencies, Batty. Just ask the Jews, Blacks and anyone oppressed.
No ABob. Again you are projecting your hatred on your political opponents who are not hysterical but rational. Hence your hate.
Sorry, Splat, I listened to it for years in the legislature. That’s not projection; that’s observation.
AnonyBob wrote, “Sorry, Splat, I listened to it for years in the legislature. That’s not projection; that’s observation.”
“Observation”? I call BS!
I’m going to say that you’re likely engaging in extreme hyperbole. The chance that you actually heard a pattern of KKK or anti-Semitism from Conservative members of the legislature is ZERO; furthermore, the chance you heard that kind of rhetoric from more than one radically ignorant mouth in the legislature, regardless of their party association, is next to zero if not actually zero. The chance that you are using your ideologically entrenched mind to spin or twist something you may have heard into this propaganda hyperbole is greater than 90%. After reading the partisan poppycock you write around here I simply cannot use Halon’s Razor to explain your rhetoric away, you are absolutely full of partisan malice. I believe with everything that makes me the man I am today that you have fabricated this lie about hearing that kind of rhetoric in the legislature and if you cannot provide actual quotes to support that extreme hyperbole then you fit nicely into a category of just being a partisan liar.
AnonyBob also wrote above, “Those are all conservative tendencies, Batty. Just ask the Jews, Blacks and anyone oppressed.”
I call BS again!
No AnonyBob those are not conservative tendencies, you wouldn’t know a conservative tendency if it bit you in the arse. That’s another one of the big propaganda lies that partisan fools thinking ends justify the means spew forth as “truth”. Regurgitating such ridiculous things make the deliverer either a fool or an outright liar.
Here’s the problem; when our public “education” system has nearly eliminated critical thinking and created brainwashed hive-minded drones it’s easy to see how the repetition of propaganda lies, such as the nonsense AnonyBob writes, can make a fact seem more true, regardless of whether it is or not. “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.” Joseph Goebbels. True imbeciles just repeat the propaganda lie as if it’s true because their too ignorant to know the difference between truth and lies, immoral partisan hacks intentionally spout these lies to destroy – it’s all ends justify the means moral bankruptcy.
It is absolutely clear that the political left has been waging an morally bankrupt anti-Conservative propaganda war for quite some time and it has reached a pinnacle of absolute absurdity since the Presidential election of 2016. AnonyBob is a rather insignificant piece of that propaganda war, he’s a willing foot soldier spewing forth absolute absurdity and he’s damned proud of it.
In general, the political left doesn’t give a damn if they lie as long as their followers believe it and there’s a possibility to suck other fools into their fold with repetition, peer pressure, and intimidation.
https://i.snag.gy/JZr5hv.jpg
AnonyBob,
I think you are trolling for effect and I know this is probably asking a lot from you, but if you choose to reply to this comment, choose how you reply wisely.
I am confident you have no clue of what I did or did not hear from conservatives in the legislature. From the floor of the Assembly, to committee hearings, to sitting in my office listening to debates on the squawk box, I heard a lot during 25 years there. You seem to know nothing about that place. Or about anything outside your silo, despite what’s made you “the man you are today.” Which is a vaguely weird statement.
You’ll have enlighten me in how I need “to choose wisely” in responding to you.
AnonyBob wrote, “I am confident you have no clue of what I did or did not hear from conservatives in the legislature. From the floor of the Assembly, to committee hearings, to sitting in my office listening to debates on the squawk box, I heard a lot during 25 years there.”
You know Bob, you make one accusation and claim after another and you never back up anything with facts. I think you’re just making all this stuff up including you being some part of the legislature for 25 years. It’s all rationalizations and unsupportable lies from you.
AnonyBob wrote, “You seem to know nothing about that place.”
Really? So what “facts” are you basing that on?
AnonyBob wrote, “You’ll have enlighten me in how I need “to choose wisely” in responding to you.”
Back up your faux rhetoric with facts instead of trolling like an ignorant partisan jerk.
AnonyBob wrote, “From the floor of the Assembly, to committee hearings, to sitting in my office listening to debates on the squawk box, I heard a lot…”
But below you said “I didn’t say conservatives in the legislature were”; so you were talking about the people in the Legislature up here in this comment but you weren’t talking about the people in the legislature below – typical goal post shifting thinking others are blind and won’t notice.
AnonyBob wrote, “I heard a lot during 25 years there.”
Do you know how many members of the legislature served 25+ years in your lifetime as are still alive? That information is available online. I don’t believe you’re the person who you have implied you are; if you are you’re acting like a damn fool for a retired professional politician and retired member of the Wisconsin legislature.
Calm yourself, Z. I never claimed to be a member of the legislature. I held various staff positions where I served legislators over the course of 25 years.
AnonyBob wrote, “I never claimed to be a member of the legislature.”
Interesting.
Benefit of the doubt: Since this sentence “from the floor of the Assembly, to committee hearings, to sitting in my office listening to debates on the squawk box” seems to imply otherwise; can anyone confirm this claim from AnonyBob that he hasn’t used the phrase “in the Legislature” in his previous claims?
AnonyBob wrote, “I held various staff positions where I served legislators over the course of 25 years.”
Positions like “mail clerk, office cleaning staff, IT troubleshooter, network administrator, maintenance man, or maybe just cleaning the residual odors out of the legislative restrooms with your feckless partisan toilet brush”? /snark/
@AnonyBob;
“I held various staff positions where I served legislators over the course of 25 years.”
You mean an INTERN like Monica Lewinsky…?
The Gotch
Based on what I’ve told you, I could’ve held any of those positions.
@AnonyBob;
“Based on what I’ve told you, I could’ve held any of those positions.”
Like…um…a position under the Former-Serial-Sexual-Predator-In-Chief…?
If that’s the case, I wouldn’t be surprised.
The Gotch
You stay classy, Gootch.
Anyone want to take bets on how long it will be before the “news” becomes simply one endless string of social media tempests in a teapot? On the bright side, the Baraboo brouhaha yet again validates my decision to avoid social media like the festering boil it is.
I largely agree with Blaska, here. This is a tempest in a teapot caused by a stupid photo of stupid, adolescent boys in which just a half dozen execute the salute in a moment of goofiness and misunderstanding of the photographer’s request. The comparison to a photo of Hillary giving a normal wave that in no way resembles a Nazi salute is also stupid, but Dave sometimes just can’t help himself.
Yet…I grew up in small town Wisconsin and, despite Mr. Gunderson’s protestations, I remember plenty of peers that were outright ignorant racists, despite the lack of other races in town.
You boys need to ask yourselves why so many in this country are so touchy about Nazis these days. Maybe too many believe “there are very fine people on both sides.”
Lived in rural Wisconsin towns for 35 of the last 45 years. Broad characterizations about wacism, intolerance, etc., were not what I observed. In fact, I do not know of a single example of wascism against any of the many foreign exchange students of color who attended the local high school.
Passions of hatred or bitterness require a measure of reflection and thought. Do most Badger fans “hate” Ohio State fans or their teams? Is the tribalism of Madison Memorial against Janesville Craig any more or less “hateful” than that of Packer fans who have “feelings” about the Vikings?
Why is all bigotry “bad” — except financial and economic bigotry? How many times have you heard the media or farmers say that dairy farms would not survive without cheap (aka slave) labor? How many times have you heard “Americans” won’t do “that kind of work,” while always ignoring the question of wage rates? How many times have you vented about taxing the “wealthy” more? (there are now even 2 classes of subsidies for Medicare members in Wisc)
Do you want to live in a locale (city, town, block, school district) where there is distrust and UNSHARED values? Do you want your every move subjected to the potential claim of “wacism,” gender bias, misogyny or whatever bigotry flavor of the day seems useful as a weapon? Do most people strive to live in any community where they, as individuals, are “the other”? Why do folks self-segregate? Why is this common in urban high schools and “liberal universities”? Why the historic cry for “special treatment, special programs, segregated curriculum, segregated “student centers”? The bigotry of identity politics.
Does any reader here aspire to live in the geographic area in Milwaukee where 75% of the gun crimes/murders transpire? Do any passionate liberals really want to reside there and send their kids to the local schools?
Finally, consider anti-Nazi passions. Do you ever hear the same level of concern expressed about the 100+ million who died in the Soviet experiment — the Maoist experiment — the current state of life in Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe? I know, that is a false equivalency…..or is that (dis)counting socialist bigotry? Bernie has been quiet about that.
@Tom Paine;
“tribalism of Madison Memorial against Janesville Craig”
Respectfully disagree.
Speaking from lengthy hands-on-up-close-n-personal experience (JMM/Class of ’73 [GO SPARTANS!!]), Craig was/is an afterthought.
Madison West (in our crosshairs) is a different story. Sheesh, those pikers even need to use Mansfield Stadium!
The Gotch
Mr. Paine at 1:38am.
Very fine analysis. Thanks for taking the time.
There are two types of people worked up by this photo. The first are idiots who legitimately believe the fifth Reich is on the march. Despite the fact there barely enough actual nazis in America to fill a trailer park, they think Trump-Hitler’s extermination camps are right around the corner. The other are the professional pearl clutchers, who are treating themselves to a bout of moral posturing and self righteous ego masturbation. They know some kids clowning for the camera doesn’t mean a thing, but will happily pretend it does to wring every ounce of advantage out of the situation.
It points to the disingenuous nature of the folks looking around desperately for a fainting couch to swoon upon that they do not exhibit similar hysteria in regards to communists and socialists. Apparently it’s easier to get worked up about repressive murderous ideologies when they aren’t espoused by your friends. Either that you only care that you aren’t the one exercising tyranny.
Frankly, this stuff is great. Much like the 4chan OK sign hoax and the milk meme; trolling the left, even inadvertently, into fits of apoplexy is nothing but wonderful. The more they can be goaded into displaying themselves as the petulant zealots and petty tyrants they are, so much the better.
Anyone that does the Sieg Heil salute, or anything that might be remotely construed as such, should be immediately shunned/banned/shamed/banished/shorn and administered DAILY atomic wedgies in perpetuity.
ANYONE!
The Gotch
And what does Lefty do with a real live NAZI?
Not much, except try to hide his affiliation with Hopey Changey and X-Chromosomal beater Keith Ellison
Ah Lefty; so MUCH hypocrisy, so little time!
The Gotch
I see captain bone spurs is now shooting off his bigly mouth about the guy who put together the Bin Laden raid. He blew off every Veterans Day event and now is talking nonsense about raking all the leaves in California. Your a supporter of his? Do you really support this popular vote loser, lying fool? Do you support an idiot who appoints a guy AG of the entire country and then claims he never met him or knows anything about him? If you believe in this walking nut-job that the whole world is laughing at your a bigger fool than I thought. We had Hopey Changey now we have Dementia-Corruption. Am I right?
No. Someday perhaps but not so far.
Initially my support was based on reliable sources informing me Trump-Hitler was going to open extermination camps for leftists. Imagine my disappointment at be so cruelly misled.
What happens if Asians culturally appropriate it?
Dems so proud of their KKK creation they decided it was time for a modern version.
Cue Antifa; albeit less deadly still terribly noxious and regressive democrat.
Even long time democrat and Clinton supporter Alan Dershowitz is speaking and writing unfavorably about the direction of the repressive democratic party.
Of course now he is shunned by former friends and colleagues for doing so.
MSM reaction is to wink and nod without coverage.
If any of these Baraboo youth attend college they should be made aware of the repressive/violent campus milieu for conservatives and anyone deviating from Lefty orthodoxy.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/progressives-attacked-these-13-professors-when-they-went-afoul-of-leftist-dogma/
I see a few Asians in there. They must be protesting Harvard’s discrimination.
There is a terrible double standard when it comes to applying the same standard of implications regarding Nazi salutes to those that are obviously Democrats/Liberals/Progressives, for them they use the “get over it, it was just a wave” retort.
The photographer claims that he instructed the boys to wave to their parents, who were standing somewhere out of frame. If you look at the photo with that in mind, half of the salutes look more like ordinary waves; the other half may well be giving the nazi salute, but don’t most 17-year-olds think their parents are nazis?